Yamato Agari
Yamato Agari (東 大和 Agari Yamato) is the main character in the series Karakuri Dôji Ultimo. He is the reincarnation of a bandit, also named Yamato, that tried to assault Roger Dunstan in 12th Century Kyoto. He along with his group of bandits tried to steal the two boxes containing Ultimo and Vice, thus starting the everlasting battle between them and the other Karakuri Dôji. Appearance For his age, Yamato is relatively tall and is a man of normal build. His facial features comprise simply of medium length brunette hair, that is arranged with a prominent and spiked fringe commonly swept to one particular side, and equally dark brown eyes. Due to the present circumstances surrounding his age, Yamato spends a significant percentage of time in school, resulting in his typical clothing consisting simply of the uniform that he wears when attending Senjo Academy. Yamato's original incarnation of the 12th Century, remains relatively the same in appearance, with only his clothes changing dramatically between the two periods. Although, his hair still retains it's largely spiky styling, it is considerably longer in length and is tied back using a long thin length of cheap fabric. It was abject poverty that drove Yamato towards the occupation of a bandit and his clothes are a representation of the current life leads, being both of the lowest quality and greatly torn, and comprising of only of an unbranded kimono and dark sash with a single katana worn on to his left side. After numerous years of traveling with Ultimo during this 12th Century, Yamato's wears have drastically altered, demonstrating the significant amount of respect and popularity he has now earned. Although, a large portion of items remain the same, they are of much higher quality and have lost the peasant appearance previously attributed to them. The additions of armor covering the majority of the left arm and both legs, a large bow and quiver of arrows are slung on his back. Around the time when he met Ekobo, his hair grew a little longer and he had grown small patch of hair on his chin. Ekobo reincarnation, Shin Ekoda, described him a "fine young man" who had "the appearance of a man among men". Once Yamato reach Level 2 of ICON mode, he gains is own personalize "ICON Suit". Compare to the other dôji masters, Yamato's initial ICON Suit is a simple dark loincloth. However, Yamato later gains a long, dark fur-lined coat to wear over mostly his expose body. Yamato_12th_Century.png|The 12th Century Bandit Yamato, age 16 360.01.0decc.jpg|The 12th Century Bandit Yamato, age 19 569.03.895e6.jpg|The 21th Century Yamato, age 10 Yamato_Agari_Color_Cover.png|The 21th Century Yamato (colored) ICON_Suit_Yamato.png|Yamato's initial ICON Suit Personality The 12th century Yamato was a bandit of honor, who wanted to defeat the corrupt nobles because their actions have cost many people's homes and families. He treated his group like family and they in return trusted him and were loyal towards him. He was shown to be caring, fair, noble, kind, calm, and showed great leadership skills over his group, which was composed of adults and children alike. However, he was shown to be rather crass and cocky at times, which lead him to underestimate his enemies and acted recklessly, but confidently charged into battle all the same. Due to the fact he was a bandit, this causes many characters to criticize the 21st century Yamato, but Shin Ekoda said the reason he thought Yamato could be the leader of The Good Dôji Club was not because he is simply Ultimo's master, but a righteous bandit who fought for the good of all. The 21st Century, Yamato was originally like every other normal school boy, with no other ambition than to remain completely normal. He is described as immensely enthusiastic and kind, but always gets himself into trouble and basically has the same personality traits he had in the past. However, the current Yamato is known for his loud voice, naive remarks and impulsive actions, much to the annoyance of many characters and is regarded as an "idiot" and somewhat "incompetent" by his friends and the dôji. Noticeable differences between the eras are that he is more rash, hot-tempered, doesn't think things through and is quick to pick a fight and punch anyone that makes him angry. His kind, noble, and albeit rash actions is often a surprise to many characters and sometimes has an impact on people, noticeably Jealous, who often thinks about Yamato's kindhearted actions and even Vice, who briefly thought about Yamato after saving him from Roger Dunstan. According to his mother, Fushimi Agari, comments that most of the 21th century Yamato's personality is inherited from his father, including his clumsiness. Yamato is also rather comical compare to his friends and others, often causing or getting into embarrassing situations, thus providing most of the comic relief in the series. Although, in the most serious and intense situations, he is more sober, capable, and simply unpredictable when in danger. According to Rune Kodaira, he does have the tendency not to drop anything that he would get involved with, reflecting his past self's values. While he initially wanted nothing to do with the dôji, he reenacted the Pledge Ritual with Ultimo and decided to fight to protect all of those close to him. Throughout the story, Yamato has slowly matured as he learns about the dôji and those around him in his efforts to save the world and keep his friends safe. Contrary to what others think of him, Yamato displayed to be very intelligent and convincing, shown mostly when he puts his mind to the task at hand. For example, he was able to stop Jealous by simply taking his master hostage instead head-on likes some might excepted from him. Aside from following Shin Ekoda's advice "to observe to learn", Darumada Masami claims Yamato's wits is because he never lost his "bandit instinct". In Chapter 48, Yamato confesses to Rune that his comical, upbeat behavior is a facade and deep down has a more pessimist disposition. Due to his father leaving him when he was very young and his mother Fushimi Agari rarely ever home, Yamato was usually more or less has the company of (questionable) adult babysitters for most of his childhood. This caused Yamato to be wary of others and felt lonely throughout his childhood, but adopted a cheerful outward demeanor to cope with his negative emotions, which became his defensive mechanism as he grew up and moved to Farmless City. Even with all his friends and The Good Dôji Club, Yamato kept up this facade in the mist of the One Hundred Machine Funeral, and admits the only person that broke down his emotional barrier was Rune because of his sincere and attentive love for him. Yamato has also shown his historic honorable side, as he is against hurting anybody who can't move or fight, even if they're evil and always show kindness towards people, even those who had hurt him. Yamato often lets his emotions get in away of battle, to Musashi Murayama's dismay, but Goge and Sophia are able to sense that this is because he fights with love without negative emotions or intent, which is why Ultimo choose him as his master. According to Jealous, Yamato is the only person that seems to able avoid his heart reading ability to some extent. Jealous also has said that Yamato has something that his heart reading Noh can't discern, saying there's something "warm and peaceful" deep within him. Yamato has a massive, and somewhat obsessive, crush on Makoto Sayama since they met and she is often the only thing he thinks about, which often causes his friends to tease him about his feelings toward her. Although usually trying to win her affections, Yamato doesn't let his feelings for Sayama influence his moral compass; as when offered a chance to impress her and was offers money to buy lavish gifts for her, Yamato refuse because he knows buying someone's affections wasn't right. Sayama is also the one who influences him in his thoughts when he is faced with a decision that will risk the lives of many. He also tends to be rather melodramatic when he believes that he ruins his chance with her or does something awkward in front of her, thinking "my life is over". Relationships Ultimo Ultimo has been Yamato's dôji for over 900 centuries and compared to the other dôji and their masters, they are very close and openly affectionate to each other. Daruma said they were always "intimate" and "attached to the hip" in the 12th century. In the 21st century, Yamato was a little reluctant to have Ultimo around at first, but after taking The Pledge and remembering the past, he goes back to his former relationship with him. Although Yamato still wants to remain like a normal human and sometimes even thinks about leaving Ultimo, but he always questions if he can really leave Ultimo because he is someone he cares about. Yamato always very considerate of Ultimo's feelings and asks if he is okay when doing something, such as telling Ultimo that he doesn't need to join the battle at the noble area, knowing many people were going to die that night and asked if he was okay to have him as his master again in the 21st century. Despite his fondness for Ultimo, Yamato admits that he finds Ultimo "scary", especially after he founds out what Ultimo did in the past that he been trying to hide from him: Ultimo killed his lover, Lady Gekko. Nevertheless, Yamato forgave him, much to Lady Gekko's reincarnation, Rune's chagrin. At the end of the series, after Dunstan turns Ultimo into a human, Yamato and Ultimo continues to live together. Rune Kodaira Rune is Yamato's best friend in the 21st century, being the person he is closest to since they met and often his source of help. However, it was revealed in Chapter 10 that Rune was a reincarnation of Lady Gekko, a princess in the 12th Century, who was in a relationship with Yamato and was later married to him. Because Rune always had subconscious feelings for him and is jealous of his crush towards Makoto Sayama, he became Jealous's new master, remembered the past and turned to The Evil Dôji Branch, making him Yamato's enemy. When Yamato found out the truth he was very shocked and saying that "now is now", as they are both male, best friends and he likes Sayama. Although Rune had gone as far as hurting their friends and fighting with him, Yamato doesn't want to fight, but tries settling it fair and square. When they fought near Mt. Fuji, he told Rune that he understands how he feels, but can't return his feelings. When it looked like he was losing the battle, it was revealed that he was fighting with love to "save" Rune by breaking through his heart. By reading his heart, a tearful Rune asked why Yamato still held "so much kindness" for him and he answered saying "Even I don't understand my feelings", nearly winning him over if wasn't for Vice for stepping in. Ever since Yamato has discovered Rune's feelings for him, he has been very nervous and unsure of his relationship with Rune, but still cares about him and tries to reason with him. However, Yamato admits he can't trust Rune anymore because they are enemies and Rune refuses to change sides due to his anger towards Ultimo for killing him in past life and Yamato's current infatuation with Sayama. Since Rune is the only person in The Evil Dôji Branch that Yamato truly and unconditionally cares about, he prominently on Yamato's mind whatever he think about the group and express his desire to have his best friend back. In Chapter 48, Yamato and Rune has their promised "love battle" in order to settle their on-going, complicated feud - where Yamato open up his deeply buried feelings for Rune. Yamato confesses to Rune that he always felt lonely and the cheerful demeanor other people usually sees is more or less a facade. Yamato states that Rune was the only person to break his facade and confessed that deep down he has always love (it's unclear whether he means platonic love or romantic love) Rune ever since they were children. At the end of the series, Yamato and Rune repairs their relationship and goes back to being friends. Makoto Sayama A 17-year-old girl, who attends the same school as Yamato in the 21st century and one of his friends. He has demonstrated obsessive feelings towards her, ever since their chance meeting in elementary school, but she has yet to provide any indication on whether these feelings are mutual. According to Rune, his mind is overflowing with thoughts of Sayama, and is often disregarding almost everything else like the threats to destroy the city and other consequences where he only thinks about Sayama. This obsessive crush has once saved him from Jealous in Chapter 18, as the dôji's heart reading ability had him see many mind images of Sayama, acting like shield in Yamato's heart. If Jealous would have performed the pledge with Yamato, his feelings for Sayama would've overwhelmed Jealous, causing him to die. In the past, Sayama was a child in his gang of bandits and he took care of her, its unknown how close they were, but upon learning this, he was initially shocked at the fact he has a crush on her, even though they're currently in the same age group. Fushimi Agari Even though Fushimi is Yamato's mother, she frightens Yamato, as he once thinks after an encounter with her that if she was in a bad mood, "She would have kicked my butt". In Chapter 13, he mentions that his day starts usually with her yelling at him. As Fushimi usually shows Yamato a tough, indifferent disposition and is often absence from the house, Yamato acknowledge that they aren't very close, resulting in Yamato feeling lonely for most of his childhood. Although Yamato cares for his mother, he shows a rather low opinion of her, at least in regard of her capabilities of being a responsible adult. Yamato also seems to be aware that his mother is probably the reason for their poor financial situation, as seen in Chapter 21, when he wonders if they live in an apartment because she did something "wrong" in his past. Abilities During the 12th century period, Yamato's exploits as a bandit became famous and in doing so he gained considerable skills in both wielding numerous weapons; being proficient in swordsmanship, archery, and horse riding. It appears some of these qualities may have transferred over to his future self, as demonstrated when he preformed a traditional sword swing at Vice, using his school bag in the place of a katana. In Chapter 17, it was comically reveals that Yamato can tell the exact time with his stomach, an ability he learned from his mother because she wouldn't let him eat any snacks if he was even a minute late to come home. Quotes *(To Ultimo, about Vice) "If we kill him, he can't repent. And I just wouldn't feel right. You're right that if we lose, it may all be over...but behaving in a cowardly way means giving into evil. You may not understand...but that's what I think." *(To Rune Kodaira) "I'll be honest Rune...I think maybe...I've never believed in anyone. My dad left when I was little and my mom is messed up. She always had others babysit, so I learned to be cautious. They're weren't so bad, but people adopt attitudes to avoid conflict. So I did too. I pretended to be happy to hide my feelings. And I kept doing it and moved to Tokyo and met you guys. When I got involved in this mess...I thought continuing to pretend would help. But Kodaira Rune...you found you way into my heart. Maybe it was because of our past lives, but you broke down my defenses. You said whoever wins is right, but what does it mean to '''win'? Defeating and claiming your opponent...and nothing more? Thanks to you, I've realized something. Giving. Perhaps that is the way to permanent victory. So I've decide to give. And giving is for both boys and girls.''" Trivia *Machi Shina and Fussa Fusataro commented that Yamato has nice voice, with the latter stating he could be a good singer. Category:Characters Category:Male